Preface: The name of "The Paint Crew" before Matt was "The Gene Pool."
In 2002-03 Purdue was winning at home and losing on the road. In a post game presser the media asked Coach Keady about the difference of playing at home vs on the road and he commented that the team really fed off the energy of the student section and then chuckled and added, "maybe we should just take the Gene Pool on the Road with us."
I called Coach the next day and told him I knew he was joking...but why not?
The Gene Pool made their very first ever road trip to Crisler Arena on March 8, 2003. The entire trip was paid for by Mrs. Keady...because Morgan wouldn't let Coach use MBB money to pay for it. The total cost of the trip was ~$5k.
We took 3 buses of students up; about 125 total students (plus me and one of my staff members) and had a single block of tickets! THEY WERE LOUD!
One of my Purdue interns, Trisha Turelli, was from Ann Arbor and we used her personal cell phone, and parent's home address, to order tickets.
Purdue upset UM that day, 69-61. Immediately after the hand-shake line, David Teague, Willie Deane, Chris Booker, Brandon McKnight and others sprinted straight to the upper arena stands to celebrate with the Gene Pool students. The ride home to WL was a non-stop celebration.
In 2004, thanks again to Mrs. Keady's $5k donation to The Gene Pool, we used the same ruse and ordered 150 tickets from the UM ticket office, but this time they informed us that because of the size of our order, we were to get an audio and videoboard announcement, so Trisha's quick thinking replied that we were a high school youth group, and didn't have a name, but our teacher's name was "Katie," so just call us "Katie's Kids" (phonetically close enough to "Keady's Kids").
The announcement came mid-first half: "The Univeristy of Michigan would like to welcome Keady's' Kids to today's game!" The crowd started the obligatory minor clap and The Gene Pool ROARED!!!!!! ...and then the crowd started booing.
Purdue lost that game on a last second UM shot. The ride home was not nearly as fun.
Some of my fondest memories.
In 2002-03 Purdue was winning at home and losing on the road. In a post game presser the media asked Coach Keady about the difference of playing at home vs on the road and he commented that the team really fed off the energy of the student section and then chuckled and added, "maybe we should just take the Gene Pool on the Road with us."
I called Coach the next day and told him I knew he was joking...but why not?
The Gene Pool made their very first ever road trip to Crisler Arena on March 8, 2003. The entire trip was paid for by Mrs. Keady...because Morgan wouldn't let Coach use MBB money to pay for it. The total cost of the trip was ~$5k.
We took 3 buses of students up; about 125 total students (plus me and one of my staff members) and had a single block of tickets! THEY WERE LOUD!
One of my Purdue interns, Trisha Turelli, was from Ann Arbor and we used her personal cell phone, and parent's home address, to order tickets.
Purdue upset UM that day, 69-61. Immediately after the hand-shake line, David Teague, Willie Deane, Chris Booker, Brandon McKnight and others sprinted straight to the upper arena stands to celebrate with the Gene Pool students. The ride home to WL was a non-stop celebration.
In 2004, thanks again to Mrs. Keady's $5k donation to The Gene Pool, we used the same ruse and ordered 150 tickets from the UM ticket office, but this time they informed us that because of the size of our order, we were to get an audio and videoboard announcement, so Trisha's quick thinking replied that we were a high school youth group, and didn't have a name, but our teacher's name was "Katie," so just call us "Katie's Kids" (phonetically close enough to "Keady's Kids").
The announcement came mid-first half: "The Univeristy of Michigan would like to welcome Keady's' Kids to today's game!" The crowd started the obligatory minor clap and The Gene Pool ROARED!!!!!! ...and then the crowd started booing.
Purdue lost that game on a last second UM shot. The ride home was not nearly as fun.
Some of my fondest memories.
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